"The Great United Way" is footballers' stories, tragedies and scandals, the origins of legends that made the Manchester football club one of the main teams on the planet.

On August 11, the documentary "The Great United Way" (The United Way) was released in limited theaters. The filmmakers managed to attract many stars of the Manchester football club, who shared their stories on screen, making Manchester United a team with millions of fans worldwide. We tell you what makes this documentary special and why it's worth watching not only for Man United fans.

City and Football

"The Great United Way" starts from afar – with the story of how the emergence of a football team changed the way of life in an industrial city in northwest England. This is fundamentally important, because what the club became for the people of Manchester defined its identity and values for years to come.

This approach allows you to really feel the atmosphere and develop sympathy for the team, even if you support another club. It's impossible not to respect how the players give their all on the field for the working people who toil like horses all week to relax at the football on weekends and pour all their emotions into it. And all this happens in a wave of absolute unity.

Ups and Downs

Many sports documentaries are either built on showcasing success or on a specific event, a turning point. "The Great United Way" took a different path. In the chronicle of events, attention is focused not only on iconic and well-known moments of triumph, but also on tragic events (the Munich air disaster of 1958) and major scandals ("the night football died of shame").

The film will certainly dwell in detail on the notorious incident with the fan kick by Eric Cantona, because one of the screenwriters and main characters on screen is precisely "King Eric". The Frenchman himself will even share his regret about what happened. Naturally, in his characteristic outrageous manner.

Through ups and downs, the character of the club is formed, and Man United is a club with big ambitions and a serious character. The filmmakers managed to fully emphasize this.

Stories and Revelations

The football field is the main place of events for footballers. But they are just like everyone else. Therefore, a lot of interesting things happen in their lives that usually remain off-screen. But not in the film "The Great United Way". Here Ryan Giggs will tell how a fan tore up his autograph right in front of him, and the charges of the eccentric Ron Atkinson will share his methods of building team spirit, which included liters of alcohol and non-obvious training sessions.

Players from various eras of United will appear on screen: from Mark Hughes and Sammy McIlroy to David Beckham and Ole Gunnar Solskjær. Their stories are full of romance, enthusiasm, pride, and passion for their beloved work.

Overall, it can be said that the documentary "The Great United Way" is a kind of guide to the history of the English club. It has room for national grief, national triumph, team and personal successes. And everything that made the "Red Devils" who they are now and who they will forever remain in the historical chronicles.

In the end, I would like to give the floor to my colleague and long-time Man United fan, who also managed to watch the new documentary about his favorite team:

Although the documentary is built according to all the canons of the sports genre and quite briefly goes through the main milestones in the history of Manchester United in the second half of the 20th century, it attracts attention because of the main narrator Eric Cantona, whose short but very eventful career is given the lion's share of screen time. And not in vain, because during his time in the English team from 1992 to 1997, the Frenchman essentially became the embodiment of its aesthetics and mentality, combining an elegant playing style on the football field with a combative character. In his characteristic style, "King Eric", who suddenly hung up his boots at thirty and later proved himself in acting, is such a unique personality that he has not lost his audacity in old age and it is interesting to watch him on screen, as well as a number of club legends sharing memories against the backdrop of rare archival recordings from the 1950s to the 1990s.

At the same time, the narrative has almost nothing about Roy Keane and many other iconic figures, yet Man United fans and others may enjoy the film, as well as the 2013 similar but more detailed "Class of 92".

"The Great United Way" in limited theaters from August 11